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Yesterday, the Governor of Pennsylvania vetoed the “Protecting Excellent Teachers Act” bill that would lessen the role of seniority for teachers throughout the state. Simultaneously, the bill would increase the role of “observable” teacher effects, via teachers’ “performance ratings” as determined at least in part via the use of value-added model (VAM) estimates (i.e., using the popular Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS)). These “performance ratings” at issue are to be used for increased consequential purposes (e.g., teacher terminations/layoffs, even if solely for economic reasons).

Governor Wolff is reported as saying that “the state should spend its time investing in improving teachers and performance standards, not paving the way for layoffs. In his veto message, he noted that the evaluation system was designed to identify a teacher’s weaknesses and then provide the opportunity to improve.” He is quoted as adding, “Teachers who do not improve after being given the opportunity and tools to do so are the ones who should no longer be in the classroom…This [emphasis added] is the system we should be using to remove ineffective teachers.”

The bill, passed by both the House and Senate, and supported by the state School Boards Association among others, is apparently bound to resurface, however. Also because Republicans are charging the Governor with “resisting reform at the same time he wants more funding for education.” Increased funding is not going to happen without increased accountability, apparently, and according to Republican leaders.
Read more here, as per the article originally printed in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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